Mom’s the word: Five ways around the traditional baby book

Baby books are beautiful keepsakes that document your child’s greatest milestones. So beautiful that you almost don’t want to touch them. Which is a good thing, since who has time to fill out a baby book, anyway?

Back when we were children, our mothers lovingly filled out the many pages of these treasured albums, inserting locks of hair from our first cuts, pasting in photos (with actual paste) and inputting our immunization records. They wrote paragraph after paragraph about the first time we crawled, our first family road trip, our first day of kindergarten.

Today, when my boys hit a milestone, they get an Instagram shot with a tag line and — if they’re lucky — a couple of hash tags.

You’d think that, for a Type A uber-organizer, I’d be excellent at maintaining my kids’ baby books. Not the case. I haven’t cracked Liam’s in at least a year, and our two-month-old Nolan’s book so far contains his birth stats and a few branches of his family tree.

Thing is, there’s no way I’m staying up past my bedtime to fill out pages of information I probably already documented earlier that day on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter — or perhaps even here on this blog. I’ve thought about pulling out those pristine books once the boys are down for the night, but The Bachelorette, a glass of wine or good old fashioned sleep usually win.

Besides, baby-booking shouldn’t feel like a chore, right?

In the era of Pinterest and Etsy (and the overwhelming pressure to be the most creative mom on the block), it sure doesn’t have to be.

While the baby books collect dust (I’ll get to them someday … really!), here are some of my favourite alternatives:

1. The Instagram photo book

Your Instagram shot de jour could become part of a beautiful social media-inspired baby book (Photo: Lindsey Ward)

A friend of mine took a photo each day during her maternity leave with the same unique hash tag (eg. #Smithfamily2014), posted it on Instagram, and by the end of the year had the makings of a photo book documenting all of her daughter’s firsts. Gorgeous and so, so easy. Checktheseout.

2. First year calendar

This “baby’s first year” calendar is an easy way to keep track of all of those memorable moments. (Photo: Lindsey Ward)

You can purchase a designated “first year” calendar like this adorable one that I bought for both L and N, but two regular calendars that cover the entire first year of your child’s life will also work. All you have to do is write down the milestones on the days they happened. Heck, even your daytimer will work. At least this way you’ve got them written down somewhere. You can worry about making them pretty when you have more time. Like after the kids move out.

3. Baby’s own Twitter account

If Beyonce and Jay-Z’s fetus can have one (@BeyonceJayFetus), yours can too. Having “your baby” tweet his or her milestones (Took my first steps today, tweeps! #lookmanohands) does seem a little ridiculous. But it’s a great way for the world — or perhaps just family and friends — to keep tabs on their accomplishments. And it’s easy (there seems to be a pattern forming here …).

4. Monthly photos

Map out your child’s monthly progress on a chalkboard, then sit him or her down in front of it. Instant baby book! (Photo: evgenyatamanenko – Fotolia.com)

Another friend of mine documented her newborn son’s monthly progress on a chalkboard, using colourful chalk to jot down his weight, length, new developments, how many hours he slept, cute quirks, etc. and sat him next to the chalkboard for a photo op. Instant baby book page. Super cute, creative, and (did I mention?) easy. This blog has more cool ideas.

5. Printable forms

I love filling out forms. But the pages of a baby book require full paragraphs demanding you rehash every major event of your child’s life in great detail. Why not get them to recollect their years themselves with fun forms like this Etsy find. You can fill them out for them until they’re old enough to write for themselves.